Missing
by DukingDuck
Summary: There was something missing. She had never been able to figure out what, not until him. But sometiimes, sometimes love just isn't enough.


She bit her lip to keep herself from screaming and crying at him to look at her, to ask him why he wouldn't look at her, why he wouldn't love her. She tensed her muscles and squeezed her eyes shut for a brief moment to keep the tears from welling up in her eyes. Why did she do this to herself? Why? Why did she have to love _him_?

"Rose?"

Her blue eyes opened in startle as she glanced up at him.

"Are you okay?" His chocolate-brown eyes gazed down at her with a worried frown.

"I'm fine." She grinned.

His frown deepened further. He knew she was lying. He also knew she would never admit to it either and that it was better to just drop it.

"I could really do with some sushi right about now." Her grin melting into a soft smile, a real one as she grabbed his arm and began pulling him further away. The more alone they were the happier she was.

"Then we better not keep you waiting!"

"No, you better not." One day he'd see… he'd see her…

"Yeah, I'll be right there," With a click of a button he ended the call. He looked up at the table. "Sorry guys but that was Gramps. He needs help at the shop and I have to get going."

She gritted her teeth and glanced away as he said his goodbyes. She _knew_ he was lying. His Gramps might be old but he was in perfect health and more than capable of handling the store on his own for the night. The store was small and didn't get too many customers, only just enough to keep from going into debt. So why did he lie? Why did he lie to _her_? Everybody else at the table obviously knew what he was really going to go do. Why not _her?_

"See you in class tomorrow Rose. The test is going to be killer." He gave her a smile and she felt as though she was the only person he could see at the moment in time.

"Yeah, it is. See you."

She knew she was beautiful. Everybody told her so all the time. He told her all the time. So it wasn't that. But why wasn't she attractive enough? Or maybe she wasn't smart enough, or funny, or kind enough… But if that was true she would be one of his closest friends, would she?

She knew he considered her to be one of his closest friends. Maybe not close enough for him to tell her his secret but close enough to know that he had one. Close enough that he told her other secrets that he never told anybody else.

So why didn't he love her?

She kissed him. She kissed him hard and soft, desperately and passionately, and with all the feelings she could muster for him.

And he kissed her back. It was heaven. Finally, finally, he was seeing _her._ Finally, he would see her and fall in love with _her._

There was a swipe of tongue against tongue and the slight taste of her own cherry lip gloss. His hands around her waist and gently entrapped in her hair tugged her closer to his warmth and his hardened body.

They pulled apart gently as she whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too."

She moved in again for another kiss. He flinched from her touched and moved away to prevent her from getting any closer. That was when she finally saw the tears and the pain and regret etched across his face. "I- I can't. I'm so sorry Rose…"

"B-but – _why?_ You said you love _me._ "

"I do. Sometimes," came the broken whisper, "love isn't enough."

She didn't really remember much about her childhood, especially not the brief time she had spent in the NYC. She didn't really have very many memories of actually being with him during those times, but the memories of the brief times she was with him she remembered the feelings she had. The powerful, overwhelming feelings.

She loved her parents and her life even after they had moved to Hong Kong. She hadn't very many close friends and she hadn't been very close to her own parents but she'd always loved and appreciated them, and knew that she could never take them for granted. But even so she had always felt like something was missing. That something just wasn't _right. _She could never figure out what it was though. At least not until she met _him _again,

She'd always felt a little homesick for America, for New York. So when she was eighteen and had finally graduated from the equivalency of high school in Hong Kong she had applied for spot as a student at New York City University. Everybody had assumed that she would go somewhere more prestigious. She could pick from the cream of the crop. So when she told them she had chosen to go to NYC they were rather surprised. Even she was surprised by how badly she wanted to go there. She had packed up her life in Hong Kong and hopped on a plane and landed right in the middle of the bustling streets of NYC.

It was the first class of the first day of classes when she finally met him again. He had bumped into her making her drop her belongings. He had apologized as he hurriedly gathered the items to hand them back to her. When he had finally looked at her, really looked at her, his jaw dropped as he had exclaimed, "Rose?"

And that was when she knew. That was when she knew what had been missing. She couldn't really remember much about him other than his name and the feelings she had around him as a child. But in that moment she knew. She knew that he was the love of her life.

So she did everything she could to become as important in his life as she could. It hadn't been hard in the least bit. Despite that he had seemed a little unnerved and uncomfortable being around her at times he seemed to really want her around anyways. Sort of like he was moth flittering towards the light of candle who was trying his hardest to get as close as he could without being burnt to a singe.

Spud and Trixie while they weren't outright hostile it was obvious that they weren't very pleased with the idea of their best friend having much to do with her. It also didn't take long for their worry to decrease at least a little a few weeks into the friendship. It would be years before she would ever learn it exactly why that was.

It was a month after the most amazing kiss of her life and the worse night of her life. She had spent those last couple of weeks crying herself to sleep every night and trying to figure out what went wrong. To figure out why love wasn't enough. Why he was still engaged to _her._ Why he was still going to marry _her _in less than six months. Had she told him too late? Was that why?

Apparently, it was too late. It had been far too late. Sometimes she wishes she had never followed them, had never eavesdropped on them. Even so she was glad that she did. At least now she knew why love wasn't enough.

"Jakie! You have to stop this! Please you can't be around her anymore, you know that don't you?" There was a grunt, whether in the negative or not was undetermined, in reply. "I knew the moment I saw her all she would bring was trouble."

"You can't trust her." Spud's normally goofily smiling face was hardened with earnestness.

"I know."

"You'll both get hurt."

"I know."

"Melody will get hurt."

"I love Melody and I have no intentions of hurting her. She understands that."

"Not _that _much," came the glaring response from Trixie.

"I promised you didn't I. I told you that I would never pursue, would never allow myself to be in a romantic relationship with Rose again, didn't I? I have no intentions of breaking that promise. I may love her but love just isn't enough."

"You don't trust her."

"No."

"Good. She betrayed you last time. Sold you out, you can't forget that Jakie. We can't let you forget that not even for her."

"I know…"


End file.
